News

05/31/2017

New building planned for Seaport has a dramatically different look

The next big Seaport office building won’t look quite like every other Seaport office building.

WS Development is taking the wraps off of plans for an 18-story building at 88 Seaport Blvd., on the site of the old Our Lady of Good Voyage Shrine. And while it has the glass walls and hard corners found on many of its neighbors in the bustling district, it has something else, too: Trees and terraces around an open midsection that sweeps down toward Boston Harbor, almost slicing the building into two sections.

The building is being designed by Dutch architecture firm OMA, founded by famed architect Rem Koolhaas. It’s built prominent buildings around the world, but this is the company’s first project in Boston. WS hired OMA in a bid to help change the oft-maligned architecture of the Seaport — where it owns about 12 open acres and is seeking city approvals for nine new buildings.

The 88 Seaport project is the first, and WS hopes to break ground next year.